Slow Play

Sean_pop

Played Mount Wolseley Saturday and it turned out to be the longest round I have ever played. 5.30 hours for 3 ball. We had a couple of 4 balls in front of us but even still 5.30 hours is still ridiculous.

Dr Devious

Sean_pop wrote: »

Played Mount Wolseley Saturday and it turned out to be the longest round I have ever played. 5.30 hours for 3 ball. We had a couple of 4 balls in front of us but even still 5.30 hours is still ridiculous.

Has that ever happened on a golf course before?:rolleyes:

Sean_pop

It has definitely happened before and I know people even have stories of longer rounds of golf.

Mantis Toboggan

Dr Devious wrote: »

Has that ever happened on a golf course before?

I had the same time going around the heritage in a 4 ball in the wind and rain.

Sean_pop

that's sounds painful

FixdePitchmark

Many societies have end of year bash at this time.

Most of them are pub based / drink based . With lads who honestly play 3/4 times a year.

All hungover late . Should never be in 4 balls Imo.

They tend to go to a big course for last outing and can't play it.

Groups like that should have at least 2 hours on time sheet . With no one near them.

Not looking at boards soc of course. (Lol)L

Rikand

I hear fota are scheduling in a society to take 6 hours for the round in 2 weeks time....

charlieIRL

Rikand wrote: »

I hear fota are scheduling in a society to take 6 hours for the round in 2 weeks time....

We're only playing one round not two!!:P

Dtoffee

It is a long course with plenty of trees and opportunities to lose balls, so I would allow for that. However, was everyone slow ? was there a course ranger on duty ? Did you complain afterwards and if so what was the reply?

I have been out for 5 and a half hours before and its not nice, but usually its the same for everyone. Certain courses are more open to non members playing and not knowing their way around, Mount Wolsley being attached to a hotel is one of them and to be honest theres not a lot you can do.

slave1

We played there in our society this year and was by far our longest round, North on 5 hours in 3 balls on a Saturday

Boskowski

I've been to Mt W a few weeks ago for a non golf related weekend (wedding). All through Friday evening, Saturday, Sunday I never saw anyone playing except for the odd lone older guy pottering around all by himself. Which suggests to me its a mostly touristy, green fees course. In which case I'd say they take anything and anyone without much care for the smooth running of the golf but mostly revenue geared. Looked fantastically well kept tough. I heard someone saying they're under the NAMA umbrella. Are there any members around here who have some insight?

Armchair Andy

Hear they have started nominating a rotating ranger philosophy in a Cork city course due to repeat offenders of slow play. If rumour is right 7 were asked to leave the course mid comp recently after having been warned. Comps since supposed to have sharply speedened up. Brilliant idea imo.

sydneybound

Armchair Andy wrote: »

Hear they have started nominating a rotating ranger philosophy in a Cork city course due to repeat offenders of slow play. If rumour is right 7 were asked to leave the course mid comp recently after having been warned. Comps since supposed to have sharply speedened up. Brilliant idea imo.

Best post I've since on boards in quite a while. People should be put off the course if their that slow.

Dtoffee

sydneybound wrote: »

Best post I've since on boards in quite a while. People should be put off the course if their that slow.

Recipe for disaster ...... I could see sparks fly if some ranger tried to remove a group from the course and to be honest, it would be madness unless the ranger was properly trained to do so and officially instructed to do so.

sydneybound

Dtoffee wrote: »

Recipe for disaster ...... I could see sparks fly if some ranger tried to remove a group from the course and to be honest, it would be madness unless the ranger was properly trained to do so and officially instructed to do so.

Yes in part you are correct however if they are members and constantly play slow week in week out causing disruption to other members and have been warned about it they should eventually be told to leave the course.

Golfgraffix

We have been working with clubs on slow play remedies and have tested some products and procedures.

One of the most simple but yet effective has been adopted in a Dublin club. Persistent offenders in club comps are only allowed play in the last group(s)

J

FixdePitchmark

Golfgraffix wrote: »

We have been working with clubs on slow play remedies and have tested some products and procedures.

One of the most simple but yet effective has been adopted in a Dublin club. Persistent offenders in club comps are only allowed play in the last group(s)

J

Yes but we live in a sensitive age - and we are not far away and have seen in golf - legal threats / bullying cases.

Good point made above - it would be a fairly skilled task to -

a) Tell the individual they are slow.
b) Then - actually implement a punishment.

Most golfers I've come across tend to shy away from conflict - or at least will express their angst with everything - in the comfort of their own 4 ball with Euro Tour routines and Fowler trousers. .

I've only come across two lads - that would walk over to a group and say - you are slow - speed up.

It is a good idea that it is a rota of all members - they are trying to create a culture with all. But the face of this at the start will be an individual - this is a problem.

It is an interesting idea - implementation is the problem.

Agree technology could be a good way - of making the technology the evil aspect. Well this "thing" is saying we are falling behind - we are 10 % slower (we have lost 12 mins) , or whatever.

I know this system is in place - but would work better in a golfing location that is based on Golf Buggies.

Anyway - I admire the Corkonians for their push - but it normally ends up in a fight down there.

rrpc

Another simple idea is to have the time it should take you to get to the ninth on the score card and a sign on the ninth tee giving you the same information. I've seen score cards in Portugal with the average time for each hole marked in a separate column.

It's just a matter of awareness. The problem with slow play is that you can't know where the logjam is ahead of you. It could be two, three or more holes ahead of you but you're blaming the fourball in front of you or on front of them when they could be held up as well.

valoren

Would it not be better for a club to focus on eliminating a culture of slow play and prevent peeved off members from leaving or adopt a softly softly approach in case they bruised certain people's ego's to keep the status quo?

Take an extra bit of time (no more than 10-20 seconds) when your game is on (it follows that when you're on, you're not looking for a ball on every second hole) but when you're producing army golf on a particular day yet you're still stalking and scrutinising 3 foot putts like Langer at the Masters, then you need some serious self reflection about your pace of play.

valoren

Can you self police the pace of play in Golf?

Obviously course rangers can’t be everywhere on the course at once and unlike professional tours, each group doesn’t have a referee.

In a competition format, that goes out in fourball’s for example, a player is nominated captain of the group. Along with his scorecard, he would receive a Yellow Card.

Consider the scenario where the group ahead of this fourball is playing slowly. Like a traffic pulse, their slow play affects back down through the time sheet. If the players in the captains group are aggrieved at the slow play, then the captain, with the approval of his playing partners is obliged to brandish the Yellow card to the group ahead which indicates words to the effect of “Pick up the Pace, you have been warned”.

This gesture can only be used once by the captain. No hitting balls towards the group to “..make a point!”. It would become established practice. The club would display this as a course policy, as in "The club operates a Pace of Play warning system during competitions, etc......". No bruised ego's, no lawsuits for bullying etc. It would be a club policy. That you agreed to when you signed up, or when you're a visitor on the terms and conditions sheet.

It would then fall to the group ahead to speed up.
The purpose of the gesture is to indicate that the group behind will when possible inform the ranger that their pace is slow, that they felt it necessary to issue a warning. The ranger will then focus on their play and ensure they meet the pace of play requirements (as in 4.5 hours for a fourball). This would be at the ranger’s discretion considering the difficulty of the course, weather conditions on the day etc.

If the ranger feels that the group has not heeded the warnings then each player will receive an infraction. Repeated offenders would be put out towards the back of the time sheets in future.

It’s part of the etiquette of the game to play at an adequate pace. There would be no hostility from groups receiving warnings. They would have their own ‘captain’ too. The idea of getting infractions could serve as motivation essentially to find out how to avoid slow play.

Just an idea. There's the scenario, where the group behind the group that issued a card above would do the same to that group but to resolve that the group about to issue a warning would have to show the yellow card to the group behind them to show that they are issuing a warning.

After all the group behind would tell the ranger, who would tell them that they have already issued a warning ahead and the players in the warning group would be absolved of infractions/scrutiny from the ranger.

moycullen14

valoren wrote: »

Can you self police the pace of play in Golf?

Obviously course rangers can’t be everywhere on the course at once and unlike professional tours, each group doesn’t have a referee.

In a competition format, that goes out in fourball’s for example, a player is nominated captain of the group. Along with his scorecard, he would receive a Yellow Card.

Consider the scenario where the group ahead of this fourball is playing slowly. Like a traffic pulse, their slow play affects back down through the time sheet. If the players in the captains group are aggrieved at the slow play, then the captain, with the approval of his playing partners is obliged to brandish the Yellow card to the group ahead which indicates words to the effect of “Pick up the Pace, you have been warned”.

This gesture can only be used once by the captain. No hitting balls towards the group to “..make a point!”. It would become established practice. The club would display this as a course policy, as in "The club operates a Pace of Play warning system during competitions, etc......". No bruised ego's, no lawsuits for bullying etc. It would be a club policy. That you agreed to when you signed up, or when you're a visitor on the terms and conditions sheet.

It would then fall to the group ahead to speed up.
The purpose of the gesture is to indicate that the group behind will when possible inform the ranger that their pace is slow, that they felt it necessary to issue a warning. The ranger will then focus on their play and ensure they meet the pace of play requirements (as in 4.5 hours for a fourball). This would be at the ranger’s discretion considering the difficulty of the course, weather conditions on the day etc.

If the ranger feels that the group has not heeded the warnings then each player will receive an infraction. Repeated offenders would be put out towards the back of the time sheets in future.

It’s part of the etiquette of the game to play at an adequate pace. There would be no hostility from groups receiving warnings. They would have their own ‘captain’ too. The idea of getting infractions could serve as motivation essentially to find out how to avoid slow play.

Just an idea. There's the scenario, where the group behind the group that issued a card above would do the same to that group but to resolve that the group about to issue a warning would have to show the yellow card to the group behind them to show that they are issuing a warning.

After all the group behind would tell the ranger, who would tell them that they have already issued a warning ahead and the players in the warning group would be absolved of infractions/scrutiny from the ranger.

Can't see that working too well at our place.... 'You can take your yellow card and shove it up your .....' would be one of the more polite reactions.

Education is the key. Most people have no idea that they are slow and no idea why they are slow.

I had one a few weeks ago that nicely illustrated the point.

Playing behind one of our more notorious snails with one of our more fiery members, the following happened:

Slowcoach ends up in a bunker about 20 yards short of the green. Plays out to green, takes his putter but leaves the bag by the bunker. Proceeds to the green to finish out and then STROLLS back to his bag. At this stage, he has lost a hole on the crowd in front. On the next tee, my partner (politely for a change) takes him to task for his tardiness and for leaving his bag miles away from the next tee. Your man had literally no idea what he was talking about. He claims that no-one had ever accused him of slow play and he was unaware that he had lost a hole and was equally unaware that this was a problem.

All the yellow cards, rangers, cattle-prods and humane killers in the world are no use until you can beat it into thick heads that slow play is a problem and that you are slow.

valoren

moycullen14 wrote: »

Can't see that working too well at our place.... 'You can take your yellow card and shove it up your .....' would be one of the more polite reactions.

There would be growing pains. I don't think it's self policing myself either. But in the case above, the playing partners would be having a quiet word about the that kind of aggressive attitude as they would all be in line for a blackmark for slow play. If someone in a group is that slow then saying nothing is only contributing to the slow play as well.

The group would 'police' itself, as in someone leaving their bag 20 yards behind them by a bunker and dawdling back and on to the next tee would be told to cop on by playing partners. We all have brain farts and do stupid things like that, but when it's persistent and nothing is said then it only validates what they are doing is perfectly ok.

Obviously this would only happen where the pace is excruciatingly slow without any obvious reasons why and losing holes to groups in front.

rrpc

moycullen14 wrote: »

Can't see that working too well at our place.... 'You can take your yellow card and shove it up your .....' would be one of the more polite reactions.

Education is the key. Most people have no idea that they are slow and no idea why they are slow.

That's the answer in my mind too. I was playing Macreddin at the weekend and had to wait on the 11th tee for a fourball putting on the 14th which is quite close (didn't want to disturb them). One guy stood over a 4-5 footer for an age and then missed it. There followed a long conversation with one of his playing partners before tapping in the resulting 1 footer. Another member of their fourball then took his putt and another discussion ensued. Needless to say, we got piled up behind the traffic jam they had caused on the very next hole!

moycullen14 wrote: »

All the yellow cards, rangers, cattle-prods and humane killers in the world are no use until you can beat it into thick heads that slow play is a problem and that you are slow.

A sign on the ninth tee saying "You should be here 2h 20m after your tee time" would go a long way to alerting at least one member of a fourball to check their progress and speed things up.

Asking other golfers to police the course is a bad idea. Apart from the bad feeling it could engender, you might create little 'Stasi' monsters who will inevitably go overboard and ruin a nice days golfing for everyone.

alxmorgan

valoren wrote: »

There would be growing pains. I don't think it's self policing myself either. But in the case above, the playing partners would be having a quiet word about the that kind of aggressive attitude as they would all be in line for a blackmark for slow play. If someone in a group is that slow then saying nothing is only contributing to the slow play as well.

The group would 'police' itself, as in someone leaving their bag 20 yards behind them by a bunker and dawdling back and on to the next tee would be told to cop on by playing partners.

Obviously this would only happen where the pace is excruciatingly slow without any obvious reasons why and losing holes to groups in front.

I like your ideas, and attempts to solve slow play in general, but I think you are giving the general playing public too much credit. They are too many stubborn/ignorant/insert description here players out there for anything bar enforcement from a recognised authority figure to work.

You may have some affect but far too often I see the "I paid me money I'll take me time" attitude out there.

valoren

alxmorgan wrote: »

I like your ideas, and attempts to solve slow play in general, but I think you are giving the general playing public too much credit. They are too many stubborn/ignorant/insert description here players out there for anything bar enforcement from a recognised authority figure to work.

You may have some affect but far too often I see the "I paid me money I'll take me time" attitude out there.

I'm thinking of it in use by a Club for major competitions only. The one's where people read the 3 foot putt's like a surgeon. For casual rounds it would not apply. If you for example went to an open competition and the club had such a Pace Policy in place, then you are forewarned that you shouldn't be slow and you should self police the group. There wouldn't be any bad feeling engendered just a simple "Let's not get ourselves on the clock"

Mantis Toboggan

rrpc wrote: »

A sign on the ninth tee saying "You should be here 2h 20m after your tee time" would go a long way to alerting at least one member of a fourball to check their progress and speed things up.

Yeah but 2 hours 20 minutes will lead to a 4 hours 40 minute round, and when a club gives that guidelines then a slight deviation from that will see rounds up in the 5 hour mark. 2 hours is plenty for a front 9. In citywest there is a sign on the first saying slow play will not be tolerated and on the 9th saying 4 ball should take no longer than 2 hours 3 ball 1 hr 45 minutes. When I pass that sign I naturally check to see how we are for time. It works well imo and gets people thinking about their pace of play.

rrpc

Dennis Reynolds wrote: »

Yeah but 2 hours 20 minutes will lead to a 4 hours 40 minute round, and when a club gives that guidelines then a slight deviation from that will see rounds up in the 5 hour mark. 2 hours is plenty for a front 9. In citywest there is a sign on the first saying slow play will not be tolerated and on the 9th saying 4 ball should take no longer than 2 hours 3 ball 1 hr 45 minutes. When I pass that sign I naturally check to see how we are for time. It works well imo and gets people thinking about their pace of play.

That was an example I had from Praia D'el Rey in Portugal. It's a long course and they have the timing for each hole on the score card.

As you say, it's about awareness. You see a sign that gives an indication of how you should be doing and that gets you thinking about it.

moycullen14

alxmorgan wrote: »

I like your ideas, and attempts to solve slow play in general, but I think you are giving the general playing public too much credit. They are too many stubborn/ignorant/insert description here players out there for anything bar enforcement from a recognised authority figure to work.

You may have some affect but far too often I see the "I paid me money I'll take me time" attitude out there.

So true,

There was a thread here or on politics.ie some months back about the use of the overtaking lane on motorways. 20 pages of people justifying themselves driving how they liked, where they liked and the divil take the hindmost. Incredible stuff. It's the same on a golf course. 'I've paid me money and I'll stroll around however I like'. Very hard to deal with that level of selfishness and stubbornness.

Maybe allocate certain times on Saturday/Sunday to those who commit to finishing a round in a certain time?

valoren

How about the idea of a wave start in competitions?

Club Golfers are given a category as is.
For something like a Marathon participants are asked to give a target time (Sub 3, Sub 4 hours etc) and are then given a wave to start in (typically in 10 minute increments). The idea being that with the faster runners off first instead of everyone starting at once, that the field is spread out and congestion and bottlenecks are avoided.

So taking that idea and applying it to a golf competition, you would have a timesheet such as below.

Tee is reserved for the competition entries from 9am through to 2.30pm.

Category 1 golfers (hcp 0 to 10) are recommended to book a time from between 9am to 11.30.
Category 2 golfers (hcp 11 to 20) are recommended to book a time from between 11.30 to 1pm.
Category 3 golfers (hcp 21+) are recommended to book a time from between 1pm to 2.30pm.

This wouldn't be strictly enforced but would be a recommendation to avoid slow play.

The idea here would be that the Cat 1 players would generally hit fewer stray shots (so less time spent searching) and having reached that level would have accrued the experience (you'd hope!) to understand how to keep up pace/don't lose hole to the group ahead etc. Fewer stray shots generally implies faster rounds.

The Cat2 golfers would then have less congestion ahead of them and the Cat 3 players (with more stray shots) would not feel as pressured with groups behind, as they are more than likely hitting strays and searching too.

It may be a good idea to implement that for Open competitions.
I know that people would like to play at particular times but this would be more of a recommendation as part of an effort to combat slow play and avoid 5+ hour rounds.

Mantis Toboggan

Shotgun start?

allybhoy

I think a lot of the blame lies with the pro game and then you have amateurs copying what they see on TV. Guys see pro's on tv checking their putts from 4 or 5 different angles (even tap in putts) taking 4 or 5 practise swings etc and think "Well Jason Day does this so in order for me to play well i need to do it" . Now the issue with the pro game is a different matter, but the pro's on TV are competing for literally hundreds of thousands of pounds where every shot could cost you, whereas your amateur on a sunday morning usually isnt.

moycullen14

Dennis Reynolds wrote: »

Shotgun start?

Hmm, shotgun? I think you might be on to something......:cool:

Paulzx

valoren wrote: »

How about the idea of a wave start in competitions?

Club Golfers are given a category as is.
For something like a Marathon participants are asked to give a target time (Sub 3, Sub 4 hours etc) and are then given a wave to start in (typically in 10 minute increments). The idea being that with the faster runners off first instead of everyone starting at once, that the field is spread out and congestion and bottlenecks are avoided.

So taking that idea and applying it to a golf competition, you would have a timesheet such as below.

Tee is reserved for the competition entries from 9am through to 2.30pm.

Category 1 golfers (hcp 0 to 10) are recommended to book a time from between 9am to 11.30.
Category 2 golfers (hcp 11 to 20) are recommended to book a time from between 11.30 to 1pm.
Category 3 golfers (hcp 21+) are recommended to book a time from between 1pm to 2.30pm.

This wouldn't be strictly enforced but would be a recommendation to avoid slow play.

The idea here would be that the Cat 1 players would generally hit fewer stray shots (so less time spent searching) and having reached that level would have accrued the experience (you'd hope!) to understand how to keep up pace/don't lose hole to the group ahead etc. Fewer stray shots generally implies faster rounds.

The Cat2 golfers would then have less congestion ahead of them and the Cat 3 players (with more stray shots) would not feel as pressured with groups behind, as they are more than likely hitting strays and searching too.

It may be a good idea to implement that for Open competitions.
I know that people would like to play at particular times but this would be more of a recommendation as part of an effort to combat slow play and avoid 5+ hour rounds.

There are so many more variables that have much more affect on slow play than ability.

The speed you walk between shots along with being ready to hit straight away when your turn arrives adds up to much more time saving than crediting 2 handicappers with being quicker than 18's jusr because they are better golfers

Kevinmarkham

Paulzx wrote: »

There are so many more variables that have much more affect on slow play than ability.

The speed you walk between shots along with being ready to hit straight away when your turn arrives adds up to much more time saving than crediting 2 handicappers with being quicker than 18's jusr because they are better golfers

Very true. I played with a scratch golfer earlier this year who was unbearably slow. Last week I played with friends (husband and wife) at The Island - he's off 14, she's in the 20s - and they hustled. Fastest round I've played in ages.

PARlance

valoren wrote: »

How about the idea of a wave start in competitions?

Club Golfers are given a category as is.
For something like a Marathon participants are asked to give a target time (Sub 3, Sub 4 hours etc) and are then given a wave to start in (typically in 10 minute increments). The idea being that with the faster runners off first instead of everyone starting at once, that the field is spread out and congestion and bottlenecks are avoided.

So taking that idea and applying it to a golf competition, you would have a timesheet such as below.

Tee is reserved for the competition entries from 9am through to 2.30pm.

Category 1 golfers (hcp 0 to 10) are recommended to book a time from between 9am to 11.30.
Category 2 golfers (hcp 11 to 20) are recommended to book a time from between 11.30 to 1pm.
Category 3 golfers (hcp 21+) are recommended to book a time from between 1pm to 2.30pm.

This wouldn't be strictly enforced but would be a recommendation to avoid slow play.

The idea here would be that the Cat 1 players would generally hit fewer stray shots (so less time spent searching) and having reached that level would have accrued the experience (you'd hope!) to understand how to keep up pace/don't lose hole to the group ahead etc. Fewer stray shots generally implies faster rounds.

The Cat2 golfers would then have less congestion ahead of them and the Cat 3 players (with more stray shots) would not feel as pressured with groups behind, as they are more than likely hitting strays and searching too.

It may be a good idea to implement that for Open competitions.
I know that people would like to play at particular times but this would be more of a recommendation as part of an effort to combat slow play and avoid 5+ hour rounds.

Afaik Grange GC employ something along these lines, but it's not ability based. Slow groups/players are put to the back of the time sheet. Not sure how they police it but it's a great idea.

Paulzx

PARlance wrote: »

Afaik Grange GC employ something along these lines, but it's not ability based. Slow groups/players are put to the back of the time sheet. Not sure how they police it but it's a great idea.

How do they figure out originally who are the slow players? Is there a study done somehow of peoples round times?


Or do they use "informers" to grass up the slow players?:D

I doubt anyone is coming forward to volunteer themselves as a slow player. I'd be really interested to see how they set this up originally

Dammo

Hit when you're ready, especially on the tee box, would be a start.

Armchair Andy

Paulzx wrote:

How do they figure out originally who are the slow players? Is there a study done somehow of peoples round times?

Paulzx wrote:

Or do they use "informers" to grass up the slow players?

Paulzx wrote:

I doubt anyone is coming forward to volunteer themselves as a slow player. I'd be really interested to see how they set this up originally

All it needs is the first grass not to be discreetly knocked in the clubhouse for it to become a positive approach regarding highlighting slow players. They know who they are they just need reminding

finglashoop

Slow players must realise they are slow. I once took over two hours to get to the sixth tee in elmgreen.

ladies comp on and I seen a lady golfer, with a caddy controlling her motorised trolley, send the caddy 100 yards up the fairway to the edge of the green, then return to the bag. not too sure what she was doing but when I seen that I left the course.

I watched three women have a discussion, after all putting out and marking scores ON THE GREEN

I watched a bloke hold his putter horizontally across his chest to measure what looked like a tap in, on a par 3 while my group waited to tee off and the group behind where waiting to get onto tee box.

leaving bags all over the place is ridiculous common sense should take over

I now dont bother trying to get a round in elm green in the morning before work as it is the single most annoying thing about golf for me, I play fairly fast, so to keep any momentum I have going.

I have no problem with someone learning to play or having a bad day and being selayed lookong for balls etc.

Paulzx

finglashoop wrote: »

. I once took over two hours to get to the sixth tee in elmgreen.
.

:eek::eek::eek::eek: Holy ****!!!!!!


You must have looked like this by the time you finished 18

http://www.historicalstockphotos.com/details/photo/2101_old_mans_face.html

mike12

I'm fast 2 ball expect to be finished in less than 3 hours, 3 ball around 3 30 and 4bal. Around 4 hours.
Not keeping up with the group in front really pisses me off, I don't care if u are around in just over 4 hours if you fall 2 holes behind and are holding up group's.
Had one guy join us last year and goes it's going to be slow today it's a medal, my self and my mate flew around in 3 45 yesterday.
Keep up with the group in front if you can't let the group behind thru it's pretty simple.

Barnseire

I played Clontarf recently and they have a clocking machine on the 1st Tee and 18th Green. After you drive off, you put your card into the machine and it stamps a time on it. You then do the same walking off the 18th. If there is slow play, then they are able to identify the group and their policy is to restrict those responsible, by only allowing them to play in their next comp from 2pm.

Talking to the starter there on the day, he said it had reduced their strokes comps down to 3:45. They have not had to implement it yet, but the threat was enough to speed up play.

I thought that was a great idea. Anybody heard of anything similar anywhere else ?

Ironically, I lost a ball on the first - hadn't played a provisional coz it looked OK off the tee and had to let the group behind me through.:o

spacecoyote

http://mag.thegcw.co.uk/issues/5-The-Big-Three/let-us-through-.html

rrpc

Barnseire wrote: »

I played Clontarf recently and they have a clocking machine on the 1st Tee and 18th Green. After you drive off, you put your card into the machine and it stamps a time on it. You then do the same walking off the 18th. If there is slow play, then they are able to identify the group and their policy is to restrict those responsible, by only allowing them to play in their next comp from 2pm.

Talking to the starter there on the day, he said it had reduced their strokes comps down to 3:45. They have not had to implement it yet, but the threat was enough to speed up play.

I thought that was a great idea. Anybody heard of anything similar anywhere else ?

Ironically, I lost a ball on the first - hadn't played a provisional coz it looked OK off the tee and had to let the group behind me through.:o

So that's what they were

Playing in Portugal in July and they had those clocks on each tee box in Praia D'El Rei. Had no idea what they were for, other than keeping time. :eek:

We were quick anyway, so no worries but I suspect that during competitions they would be used more stringently.

Courses over there generally have rangers in buggies driving around; on another course we were stopped and asked who we were. He checked us against a sheet he had and wished us a good day's golf. We were well ahead of schedule at the time so no problems.

But these things make you more aware of the time and can only help speed things up.

alxmorgan

Barnseire wrote: »

I played Clontarf recently and they have a clocking machine on the 1st Tee and 18th Green. After you drive off, you put your card into the machine and it stamps a time on it. You then do the same walking off the 18th. If there is slow play, then they are able to identify the group and their policy is to restrict those responsible, by only allowing them to play in their next comp from 2pm.

Talking to the starter there on the day, he said it had reduced their strokes comps down to 3:45. They have not had to implement it yet, but the threat was enough to speed up play.

I thought that was a great idea. Anybody heard of anything similar anywhere else ?

Ironically, I lost a ball on the first - hadn't played a provisional coz it looked OK off the tee and had to let the group behind me through.:o

I assume there is some way of taking into account if you let people through ?
I mean your group could have a bad day in terms of looking for balls but let groups through rather than have them wait. This would mean your time was longer than expected but you were not really holding anyone up.

rrpc

alxmorgan wrote: »

I assume there is some way of taking into account if you let people through ?
I mean your group could have a bad day in terms of looking for balls but let groups through rather than have them wait. This would mean your time was longer than expected but you were not really holding anyone up.

That would show up on the cards of the groups you let through. So they teed off after you but got through the 18th before you.

Barnseire

alxmorgan wrote: »

I assume there is some way of taking into account if you let people through ?
I mean your group could have a bad day in terms of looking for balls but let groups through rather than have them wait. This would mean your time was longer than expected but you were not really holding anyone up.

Probably. I'm not a member there, but that would be easy to ascertain. You could just study finishing times and see who had left a big gap in front onf them.

Either way, most members clubs know who is responsible for slow play but they don't have a policy to deal with it. It just becomes a moanfest. I thought this was a great way to deal with it.

lob020

playing today as 2 ball with 2 fourballs in front of us,I approached one of the 4 balls and asked if they could speed up or close up to group in front who were a hole and a half in front of them,I was verbally abused and name called and told I had no idea about the rules of golf,as these guys were bigger than me,I felt intimidated,golf is attracting some real charmers now.Its a pity the game has gone this way full of me feiners who dont care about anyone else,and I`m not sure if any rules are going to change this.I really feel like giving up the game:(

rrpc

lob020 wrote: »

playing today as 2 ball with 2 fourballs in front of us,I approached one of the 4 balls and asked if they could speed up or close up to group in front who were a hole and a half in front of them,I was verbally abused and name called and told I had no idea about the rules of golf,as these guys were bigger than me,I felt intimidated,golf is attracting some real charmers now.Its a pity the game has gone this way full of me feiners who dont care about anyone else,and I`m not sure if any rules are going to change this.I really feel like giving up the game:(

Did you not ask them to let you play through?

slingerz

We have a group in our club that are regularly slow and regularly on the timesheet around 10.30 every Saturday. One of them is 80 odd like. How do you speed them up? Often finish 2 holes behind the group directly on front of them. Long time members though so never singled out for criticism of slow play

slave1

Played early this morning to have the course to myself (solo round), first tee time available, 3 yanks teed off before me but let me through on the 3rd tee box, had a little thanks to them and then off on my way, covered the first 9 in 1hr 5 minutes as playing well as it turned out.
As I hit my approach to the 11th two women cut in on the 12th tee box and held me up on every shot the whole way in, stood with their backs to me the whole time and ignored a few polite 'excuse me's, never got the chance to talk face to face to them, they were hacking at times and dropping balls when OOB, noone behind me for 3/4 holes either...
It was a nice morning and I was away for a few days with herself walking the course beside me so I just kept it calm, went into the clubhouse to complain but the desk had a huge party queued up so I just let it go and drove off...
Rant over, the anger and disappointment is gone now but some people are ignorant ****ers, putting rules and etiquette to one side it's just downright acting the bollix